


Genesis: Daybreak

by AlexIsOkay



Series: Genesis Volumes [1]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Angels vs. Demons, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-04-06 17:32:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19067335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsOkay/pseuds/AlexIsOkay
Summary: Genesis: Daybreak is one of two companion works, telling the story of a clash between Heaven and Hell from the perspective of the angels. For the demons' perspective of these same events, you can read Genesis: Nightfall, which can be found here:https://archiveofourown.org/works/19067338Each work will update simultaneously, with each chapter covering approximately the same events or time period from the two conflicting points of view. There is no correct order as to which work you should read first, though if you're finding this story after it's already underway or completed it's recommended that you alternate between the two, reading one chapter of each at a time in whichever order you please.This fic is on a temporary hiatus. I've stumbled up against a block while writing it and kind of burned myself out continuing to try, so rather than beating my head up against the same writer's block over and over I'm going to focus on other stuff for a while. I would like to get back to this story and finish eventually but for the time being I'm working on other projects.





	1. Chapter 1

The golden sun was shining down from a perfectly blue sky, illuminating the pearly spires of the city in a warm, radiant glow. The day was positively beautiful, though that was no surprise. Every day was perfect in Heaven. To some people, however, that perfection spelled boredom.

“Why are we even here?” Nico groaned, dragging her feet along the street as they went, flanked on either side by two of her fellow archangels.

“Because we were told to be,” Nozomi replied, clearly finding a bit of amusement in her compatriot’s frustration. “Isn’t that right, Eli-chi?”

“Hmm? Ah- Yes. That’s right,” Eli agreed, though it was clear her mind was elsewhere at the moment. As the three women continued to wander their way down the street, dressed in suits of white with silver and gold accenting them, Eli couldn’t help but feel as though this was beneath them.

Eli would never voice those complaints as freely and loudly as Nico just had, of course, but that didn’t change the fact that Nico’s question had been a valid one. This sort of simple patrol duty, wandering through districts of Heaven to make sure nothing had gone awry, was practically gruntwork, especially with how infrequently trouble arose in the first place. Heaven and Hell had been locked into stalemate for millennia, a sort of cold war fought through tensions and occasional skirmishes, but demons typically knew better than to invade the holy kingdom. Eli was an archangel, as were Nico and Nozomi, three of the highest ranking denizens in all of Heaven. To use them for nothing more than this simple patrol duty… It felt like a strange decision, to say the least, and one their superior had been infuriatingly cryptic about when pressed on the matter. “I have reason to think this might be necessary,” they had said, which had only left Eli even more on edge ever since.

“How much longer are we even out here?” Nico groaned, reaching up to wipe at her forehead as if the sun was actually overbearing, as if the air wasn’t the same perfectly pleasant temperature as always. “You think anyone will notice if I just sneak off for a little break?”

“The watchful eye of the Lord sees all, Nico-chi,” Nozomi replied, wagging a scolding finger in Nico’s direction. Loathe as Eli was to agree with Nico’s delinquency, though, she almost found herself being drawn in by the same idea- Until, rather suddenly, her attention was captured by the sound of an explosion crashing through the street, seeming to originate from not that far off from where they were standing.

“Was that-” Eli started to ask as she turned her head, only to find that Nozomi was already pointing up towards the skyline. And, as Eli lifted her eyes to follow, she could see a deep, reddish-black smoke already billowing up into sight.

“What were you saying about boredom, Nico-chi?” she asked.

“Finally,” Nico replied, face stretching into a grin as her arms reached out to either side. As her hands hovered there in the air they were suddenly enveloped by a flurry of golden light, two shining gauntlets coalescing out of nothingness. As the gauntlets materialized Nico pounded her fists back together, producing a deep, resonant clank, before her grin grew just a little bit wider. “Let’s go,” she said. And with that she was off, already barreling her way down the street towards the scene of the explosion, Eli and Nozomi following only a moment behind.

As they rushed their way down the streets Eli could see another glow out of the corner of her eye, half watching as the coils of a whip formed into existence around Nozomi’s arm, and without even looking she felt a burning in the palm of her hand as a broadsword materialized there as well. Before they even reached the scene of the explosion Eli could already see the chaos it had caused, watching as other lesser angels came running down the street in the opposite direction, screaming and shouting in panic over whatever it was that had just happened. It seemed clear enough what that something was, but no matter how obvious it may have been Eli was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around it. Demons here, in the absolute center of Heaven… It just didn’t seem possible, did it?

Eli would have that question answered for her before too much longer. As their trio rounded a final corner they were able to see the exact scene of the explosion, though with so much smoke still billowing out it took a moment to actually figure out what she was looking at. Eventually her eyes were able to pierce through the obstructions and the chaos, and Eli could see that the explosion didn’t look it had just been a random act of terror of violence: it had very cleanly blown a hole in the side of a building, where all of the smoke was now billowing out. And there in the center of the hole, emerging from the building they had just torn open, were three rather sinister looking figures.

Eli only needed a single glance to tell that, despite her own disbelief, the people she was seeing were almost certainly demons. Their dark clothes were a dead giveaway, as were the weapons they carried with them. Unlike angelic weapons, which were golden and radiant in their design, emanating a holy aura, demonic weapons were gnarled and twisted chunks of black and red, burning with brimstone and malice. On one side Eli could see a rather tall demon, blueish-black hair pulled back into a ponytail, a long spear propped over her shoulder. On the other side was a demon with shorter brown hair, her own arms clad in gauntlets that resembled Nico’s own, though they went higher up her arms and were adorned with twisted, vicious looking spikes. And then, standing in the center, there was a demon with short orange hair, clutching something to her chest. As Eli looked more carefully, however, it didn’t look like a weapon.

It was hard for Eli to make out from such a distance, but as she looked more closely at the strange object, it started to look like a book. A large book, one that was ornately bound, one whose cover seemed to glow and shine even through the thick smoke. Eli wasn’t sure what it was, but her gut instinct told her it was important.

“The center one!” Eli called out, raising her voice up loudly enough to be heard above the commotion. “Do you see that?”

“Already on it!” Nico called back, before launching herself forward towards the demons, barrelling towards them with superhuman strength.

“Oh no you don’t!” the brown haired demon shouted back, suddenly lunging forward with just as much force. In another instant she and Nico were on top of each other, both of them throwing their fists forward until their gauntlets slammed together.

The moment they clashed against each other a tremendous shockwave tore out from between them, the blast shattering windows and sending debris flying down the street. The force was enough to send Eli staggering backwards, arms instinctively shooting up to cover her face from anything that might have come shooting towards her. It was a moment or two before the rush subsided enough that she was able to lift her eyes again, though when she did her vision fell not on the demon who was still locked into combat with Nico, but instead on the other two, who were suddenly attempting to run away down a side street.

“Nozomi!” Eli shouted out.

“I know!” Nozomi yelled back, already lunging forward in the direction of the demon’s escape route. The whip that had been coiled around her arm was now coming to life, growing more vibrant as, as if by its own volition, it started to unwrap itself. Nozomi swung her arm out, and now that it was loosened the whip followed that arc, extending itself a tremendous distance as it cracked through the air. The end was snapping down directly towards the orange-haired demon and very well may have connected with her, were it not for the spear-wielder suddenly throwing herself in the way of it.

“Back off!” she shouted out, throwing her spear up horizontally so that Nozomi’s whip slammed against it, coiling around the center.

“I’m afraid that’s not really a choice!” Nozomi called back. With one demon occupied fighting Nico, though, and the other now restrained by Nozomi, Eli saw her opening. She could still see the orange-haired demon continuing to make her escape over the spear-wielder's shoulder, and with every ounce of strength Eli had in her body she rushed forward, starting to chase her down.

“HALT!” Eli shouted, voice booming through the streets as she practically glided across the ground. At her words she could already see the orange-haired demon looking backwards over her shoulder as she ran, though just as Eli passed by the spear-wielder she saw movement out of the corner of her vision as well.

“I told you to BACK! OFF!” the spear-wielder growled, followed immediately by the horrific sound of something akin to metal grinding against metal.

“Eli-chi, look out!” Eli heard Nozomi shout, and she twisted her head back just in time to see the spear wrenching itself free from its entanglement in Nozomi’s whip before, in a single fluid motion, the demon pivoted and lunged towards Eli, thrusting the spear directly at her. Eli was already moving so fast, with so much momentum behind her, that she was only barely able to twist herself around in time, and she as she turned her body to the side the spear missed her by fractions of an inch, catching the edge of her shirt as it went. The demon was following close behind, and as she flew past Eli tried to swing her sword down to cut into her, but the demon moved fast enough that in another instant she was out of the way completely. Eli staggered backwards as she suddenly found both demons on the other side of her, now retreating in tandem, and she was prepared to give chase before she was interrupted by the another catastrophic noise coming from behind her.

Once more Eli twisted her head around, this time just in time to see a bloodied, unconscious Nico coming flying towards her, slamming into the ground hard enough that the pavement cracked and skidding a few feet before she finally came to a stop. And then, standing there further down the ruined street, gauntlets ablaze and eyes practically burning with rage, was the demon Nico had been fighting.

They locked eyes from that distance, and for a moment Eli felt nothing but pure, raw fear. She was one of the most powerful angels in all of Heaven, and yet in that instant the look in this demon’s eyes sent a chill down her spine, made her blood run cold. And then the demon was lunging towards her, both arms and raised, and Eli only barely had a chance to raise her sword up to defend herself before the demon was on top of her. The demon struck with enough force that Eli could feel her blade warping in her hands, rattling the bones in her arms, and from the corner of her eye she could see the demon’s other fist colliding with Nozomi, who’s whip had gone rigid in her hands to help block the blow. Even after the initial impact the demon was still pushing down with so much force that Eli could barely hold her ground, arms shaking as she tried to hold back against such monstrous strength. For a moment her eyes locked with the demon’s once more, but then the demon’s darted to the side, and Eli realized she was looking past her.

“Get out of here!” the demon shouted, and Eli twisted her head back just far enough to see that the other two had now stopped in their tracks, both of them frozen in place, watching the unfolding scene.

“But- But You-chan!” the demon clutching the book shouted back. “We can’t-”

“I said GO!” the demon roared, the flames on her gauntlets blaring up in unison with her voice.

“Nozomi!” Eli shouted. “We can’t let them-!” But before she could even finish the thought she heard metal crunching, felt her sword buckling in her grip, and she whipped her head back to see the demon’s- who she know understood to be named You- metal-clad fingers closing in around both her blade and Nozomi’s whip.

“Turn your back on me again,” You growled, “and I’ll rip both your spines out in a fucking second.” The moment she’d said that You pulled both Eli and Nozomi towards her, and the two archangels went stumbling forward, barely managing to maintain their footing. Eli twisted her blade around, finally able to free it from You’s grip, and as Nozomi released the hold that kept her whip rigid she was able to pull her own weapon back as well. You still refused to give any quarter, though, rushing forward the moment Eli was free, and once more Eli only barely managed to get her blade up in time to defend herself before You was crashing against her once more.

“Nozomi!” Eli shouted, able to see that her partner had at least now been afforded a small bit of breathing room. “Septum-punctum sigillum!”

“Right!” Nozomi shouted back. Knowing that Nozomi was on the same page as her Eli jumped back to disengage from You, spinning around once and swinging her sword in a broad arc as she did so. As her sword cleaved through the air it left a series of shimmering afterimages behind- seven, to be precise. And as Eli landed back on her feet she flicked her free hand, causing all seven of those ethereal swords to flip through air, flying up overhead. At the same time Nozomi hurled her whip into the air, and once more the weapon seemed to act of its own accord, spiraling up and stretching itself out through the sky. As the seven blades reached the height of their arc they suddenly all pivoted to point down, directly towards You, and just as they did Nozomi’s whip slammed against them, wrapping around the ring several times over until it had bound itself into a heptagonal perimeter. The moment that was complete You barely had time to look up overhead before the swords came tearing down through the air towards her, piercing into the ground around her so tightly that each one only missed cutting through her by a fraction of an inch. The swords rooted themselves in place while the whip snapped inward, tightly constricting You at the center of the blades, anchoring her to the middle of the seal.

You collapsed to her knees as she was pulled down by the restraints, starting to thrash against her bindings, throwing her weight back and forth in an attempt to snap through the whip or uproot the swords. Even with all the tremendous strength that had been on display earlier, though, Eli was still confident that You wouldn’t be able to break a seal that drew on the combined strength of two archangels, and as You continued lashing out against her prison Eli walked forward, raising her true sword and pressing it to the demon’s neck.

“Give up,” she said, voice calm and cold, attempting to reclaim some image of authority after how uncomfortably close that battle had been. “You’ve lost.” When Eli said that You raised her head, looking back up to meet the angel’s gaze, and even with You securely restrained Eli still felt another shiver run down her back. That shiver only grew worse when You’s mouth stretched up into a wide, sharp-toothed grin.

“Have I?” she replied. “Seems to me like I did my job just fine.” As soon as You said that Eli’s eyes darted back up, but as she looked down the street she realized that You was correct: they had captured one demon, but the other two had disappeared entirely. And whatever they had been stealing, they had managed to take it with them. Eli’s eyes lingered on the empty street just a second more, before darting over to her partner once more.

“Nozomi. Make sure Nico-chan is alright. Then alert our superior,” she said, before her eyes returned to You. “I think she’ll have some questions for this one.”


	2. Chapter 2

The circular room Eli found herself looking down into was very large, walls extending straight up for a good thirty feet before eventually curving into a domed ceiling. For the most part the walls were featureless, aside from the lights, and a single heavily guarded door. The one other exception to this was the ring of windows running around the perimeter of the room just below where the ceiling started to curve inward, allowing for an observation deck where Eli herself was standing. Down in the middle of the room there were three figures: one demon, and two angels who were in the process of trying to interrogate her.

The demon who had been captured the day before was seated in a chair, wrists bound against the arms of it by two glowing golden rings, both of them spinning around rapidly. One of the angels was crouched down in front of the chair, arms extended as she kept her focus on the two rings, while the other angel stood above her, maintaining a much more severe expression.

“What do you hope to gain by continuing to defy us?” Umi asked, her eyes darting between Kotori and her captive. “I’m curious about whether you’ve even thought your stubbornness through to an endgame.”

“Seems like you’re getting pretty frustrated with my ‘stubbornness,’” the demon replied, staring back at her jailers through narrowed eyes. “So I’d say that’s a good enough reason.”

“And how long do you plan to act this way?” Umi pressed. “A week? A month? A year? We’re prepared to keep you here for all eternity if we have to.”

“Fine by me. That’s a whole eternity where you’re not fucking with my friends.”

“You-san,” Umi said, leaning forward to bring her eyes a bit closer to You’s. “There’s plenty of information you could offer us that won’t implicate your ‘friends.’ Information such as what, exactly, they stole.” For a moment after that a tense silence filled the room, Umi simply staring down at the demon while the demon stared back at her. And then, suddenly, You was bolting forward in her chair, snapping her sharpened teeth like she intended to take a chunk out of Umi’s face. Umi, fortunately, managed to jump backwards in time to avoid such a thing, and suddenly the golden rings around You’s wrists flashed more brightly, closing in even more tightly to snap the demon back down to her chair.

“Sorry, Umi-chan…” Kotori murmured, still seeming only half-present as she kept her focus on the sealing ritual.

“It’s alright,” Umi sighed back, eyes lingering on Kotori’s strained expression before returning back to the demon, who still looked entirely too smug for her position. As infuriating as it was to still be left without answers, interrogations like these were a constantly ticking clock. And it seemed as though the sand in Kotori’s hourglass was running low. “I’ll tell them we’re finished for now,” she reluctantly decided. “I’ll have someone come to relieve you.” Kotori simply nodded weakly, and from up above, Eli finally pushed herself away from the window.

“It seems like that’s it for now,” she said, turning back towards the two other angels in the observation room with her. “Still not a word out of her.”

“Because they’re playing too nice with her,” Nico muttered. “Torture the fuck out of her. That’ll get her to start talking.” Nico, perhaps unsurprisingly, had been in an even more foul mood than usual ever since she had been laid out by the demon during their fight. There were still a few visible injuries on her body, mostly faint burns around the backs of her arms when she took her jacket off, and it was clear just from watching the way she moved that some of her joints and muscles were causing her pain. Really, though, the fact that she was up and walking around at all just a day later was a testament to her strength. A lesser angel likely wouldn’t have walked away from such injuries at all.

“Now, now,” Nozomi replied, wagging a scolding finger in Nico’s direction. “What would our superior say if she heard you talking like that? ‘If we resort to barbaric methods like torture we become just as bad as them.’” That said, Nozomi’s tone of voice made it sound more like she was simply repeating a mantra rather than espousing any philosophical belief of her own, but Eli chose to ignore that.

“Speaking of our superior,” she said, already turning towards the door. “We should report to her on our progress.” Or lack thereof. “Come with me, Nozomi?”

“Of course, Eli-chi,” Nozomi replied, starting to follow after her.

“What, you’re not gonna ask me to come along too?” Nico cut in.

“I would,” Eli said, “but I didn’t think you would be interested. You’ve never exactly seemed eager to go into our superior’s office before.” That caused Nico to fall silent for a second, and then she turned as her bluff was called, waving a dismissive hand.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she grumbled. “Have fun in there.” Eli couldn’t suppress the faintest of smiles as she exited the room, Nozomi still trailing along behind her, and started to make her way down the hall towards the office in question. The area they were traveling through was incredibly secure, with guards positioned at nearly every door, though as two of heaven’s nine archangels Eli and Nozomi had free reign to go just about anywhere they pleased. There was very little that was off limits to them.

“You know,” Nozomi mused as they continued down the hall. “In a way you do have to admire her loyalty. There’s something to be said for her dedication to her friends.”

“If I didn’t know better I would think you were starting to grow sympathetic to her,” Eli replied, shooting Nozomi a glance out of the corner of her eye.

“Maybe I am. Are you saying you’re not?”

“Keep that sort of talk quiet while we’re in her office.” Speaking of which, it was only seconds later that Eli and Nozomi found themselves standing before a very large, very ornate set of double doors, perfectly white surface inlaid with dozens upon dozens of reliefs of angelic figures. If Eli looked carefully enough she knew she would find her own likeness in there somewhere, though modesty prevented her from doing so. Instead she simply raised a hand, rapping against the door several times before calling through it.

“Please, pardon my intrusion,” she said, projecting her voice through the door. “It’s Eli. I’ve come to give an update on our prisoner.”

“Excellent,” a voice called back from other side. “Come in.” After the voice spoke the doors began to open of their own accord, Eli and Nozomi both stepping backwards to make room as they swung outwards. As the doors opened they gave way to a room that, while not as tall as the interrogation room, was still quite grand. The high ceiling and perfectly white walls gave way to several very tall windows on the opposite side, through which the blue sky and warm sun shone brightly. Just in front of those windows was a wide desk, around which three figures were gathered. Two of those figures stood on the same side as Eli and Nozomi, back turned to the door, though even from that angle Eli was easily able to recognize them: Erena and Anju, the seraphim. The only two angels in heaven who outranked the nine archangels. And then, sitting on the other side of the desk, sunk back into a large chair and apparently mid-conversation with her seraphim, was the Lord of Heaven and God of all creation herself: Tsubasa.

“Ah, my apologies,” Eli said, quickly bowing her head when she saw Erena and Anju in the room. “I didn’t realize you already had visitors.”

“There’s no need to apologize,” Tsubasa assured her. “They were just on their way out.”

“We heard you bagged a live one,” Anju said, twirling on her heels to face Eli. “How’s that been?”

“Fruitless,” Eli admitted. “As I was just about to inform Tsubasa-sama, she still refuses to speak.”

“Demons can be difficult, certainly,” Erena chimed in. “But there are always ways of getting them to behave. We really should be going, though,” she then added, glancing towards Anju. “Would you do the honors?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Anju replied. As she spoke she raised a white-gloved hand, though the glove only actually remained white for a moment before it began to shimmer a vibrant gold. Anju extended a single finger and began to drag it vertically down through the air, and as she did reality seemed to twist and ripple around her, a coruscating thread of gold being left in her finger’s wake. As Anju stretched this thread far enough it began to extend on its own, stretching out first vertically, then horizontally, until a shimmering golden portal had suddenly materialized there in the room beside her.

Erena and Anju were, without question, the two most powerful angels in all of Heaven, second in strength only to Tsubasa herself, and with that power they possessed they were afforded more power in turn as well. Most angels (and demons as well, for that matter), laid claim to a single weapon; Eli had her blade, Nozomi had her whip, Nico had her gauntlets, and so on. These weapons were powerful tools in battle, certainly, but beyond that they were essentially the focus for all of an angel’s magic as well. With her sword in hand Eli could do a great many things, from summoning the blade effigies she had used to trap You to tearing open a portal just like the one Anju had just opened. Without her sword, however, Eli would be powerless to use such magic, like trying to run without legs. Erena and Anju had weapons of their own, of course, but unlike all other angels they weren’t constrained to _just_ those singular weapons. Anju’s gloves were imbued with the same magic that a normal angel’s weapon was, as were the rest of the clothes she wore, and the same was true of Erena. This wasn’t just a simple question of status, though, or of having Tsubasa’s trust; there was no doubt in Eli’s mind that if she tried to handle that much power she would be overwhelmed by it an instant.

“We’ll see you later!” Anju called out. “Good luck with your little demon problem!” And then, as soon as she and Erena had disappeared through the portal, the portal sealed itself back up, and Eli and Nozomi were left alone in the room with Tsubasa.

“I have a feeling I already know what you’re going to tell me,” Tsubasa said, motioning Eli further forward. “But go ahead and say it anyway.”

“I’m afraid our news is exactly what you think it is,” Eli replied, walking up to approach Tsubasa’s desk, Nozomi staying by her side as she did so. “Our captive still hasn’t given us any usable information. Kotori-san was reaching a point of fatigue, so Umi-san called off the interrogation for the day.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t have expected a demon to be cooperative,” Tsubasa sighed, leaning to the side in her chair, resting her cheek up against her knuckles. “Still, I’m surprised. Umi-san typically gets results without any trouble whatsoever.”

“With respect to her,” Eli began to point out, “we’re not exactly dealing with a normal caliber of demon here. If she was able to best Nico in their fight then she’s already proven herself to be exceptionally strong.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” Tsubasa agreed. “Still, that’s a frustrating inconvenience to us.” She trailed off for a moment there, before waving her hand around loosely. “Very well. Do you have anything else to report?” That time it was Eli who paused for a moment, weight shifting uneasily between her feet before she asked the question that had been on her mind.

“Well…” she began, “I don’t suppose you’ve turned up any more information about _what_ , precisely, the demons actually stole yet, have you?”

“Hm? No, I haven’t,” Tsubasa replied, shaking her head. “There are a lot of old relics and artifacts scattered throughout this city. Trying to dig out the records of what’s being held in any given building at any given time… The devil’s in the details, you know?” she chuckled, seeming to find a bit of amusement in her own joke. Eli was simply disappointed by that answer, though she nodded anyway.

“Right. Thank you,” she replied. “I believe that’s all then.”

“Thank you for your report,” Tsubasa replied, and Eli was just about to turn to leave before Tsubasa raised a finger up. “Oh, one more thing,” she quickly added. “As you’ve so astutely pointed out, your little captive isn’t just any old demon. She’s rather powerful and, presumably, rather important, and as such I think it would behoove you to be on the lookout for further… Interlopers.”

“Interlopers?” Eli repeated, brow creasing down as she repeated the word. “You don’t think they would try to attack us here, do you?”

“I think there’s no telling what they would do now that one of their own has been taken,” Tsubasa replied. “Continue your interrogation of the prisoner, but be on the lookout for any other uninvited guests as well.” Eli was still unsure of how realistic that threat actually was, trying to weigh whether it was a simple abundance of caution or whether Tsubasa had legitimate reason to believe it might be a concern. Regardless, though, she wasn’t going to vocally question such a thing, and instead she simply gave another nod.

“Of course,” she replied. “I’ll be sure to be on my guard.”

“Excellent,” Tsubasa said, a faint smile still lingering on her lips. “Thank you for all of your hard work. You are dismissed.”


	3. Chapter 3

Another day, still no more answers. Eli supposed that shouldn’t really have come as a surprise to her by this point, but she couldn’t pretend that it wasn’t becoming frustrating. Typically Umi and Kotori were able to get information out of a target in a matter of minutes, hours at the worst, and now it had been two full days and they still had nothing to work off of? Maybe Eli was becoming a bit too invested in this case, but she couldn’t help it. It was her duty. And her duty had always been the most important thing in her life.

“You really managed to rope in a stubborn one, huh?” Maki was standing alongside Eli as the two of them looked down into interrogation room from the same observation ring Eli had been in the day before, though Maki was more so just there to watch than anything else. She wasn’t particularly involved in the case itself, but apparently her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

“You have no idea,” Eli groaned back. “I hate to admit it, but Nico’s suggestions of torture are almost starting to sound tempting.”

“I never thought I would hear you of all people joking about something like that.”

“You assume I’m joking.” Maki stole a sideways glance at Eli when she heard that, though she didn’t press the topic any further. Silence settled in between them for a few seconds after that, and then Maki returned her eyes to the interrogation room, before speaking up again on a different subject.

“What about demon activity?” she asked. “Have you seen any signs that they might be trying to stage a rescue mission?”

“Not yet,” Eli replied, shaking her head. “Tsubasa-sama said she was worried about just such a thing, but… I can still hardly imagine it even being a credible threat. They would have to rally a veritable army to pull something like that off.”

“Well, if we captured an important enough demon…” Maki trailed off after that, and Eli tried to put the thought out of her mind, hating to consider that there might actually have been a possibility of it. Even if Hell didn’t have nearly the same rigid, hierarchical structure Heaven did, it still had leaders and influential figures. Eli couldn’t rule out that You had an army willing to fight for her.

Fortunately, Eli wasn’t kept stuck on that thought for much longer at all. Only a few seconds after Maki had spoken her attention was captured by another noise: footsteps charging into the room behind them, and a familiar voice calling out to her.

“E-Eli-san!” the voice practically shouted, and Eli quickly pivoted around to see Hanayo bursting into the room, doubled over in the doorway, looking rather out of breath while clutching a small, worn looking book under her arm.

“Hanayo!” Eli replied, eyebrows raising up when she saw Hanayo looking so flustered and worked up. “Calm down. What’s the matter?”

“I’ve- I’ve figured it out!” Hanayo replied, suddenly jutting the book she was holding forward and offering it out for Eli to get a better look. That said, even when it was right in front of her like that, Eli still wasn’t quite sure what she was looking at. The book looked rather old, certainly, the dark brown cover worn out and the edges of the pages rough and frayed, and based on that alone Eli assumed it was important in some way. Still, that didn’t give her much to go on.

“Figured what out?” Eli insisted. “Please, explain yourself.”

“The item that was stolen! I found out what it was!” As soon as Hanayo said that Eli’s eyebrows were raising even higher, and her interest was immediately captured. She watched eagerly as Hanayo stumbled her way further into the room, pulling the book back long enough that she could flip through to a certain page she appeared to have bookmarked before holding it up towards Eli once again. “Right here!” Hanayo said, pointing to a few narrow lines of text, handwritten into the book. The handwriting was incredibly neat, so precise it almost looked automated, though it was also so small that Eli almost had a hard time making out what it actually said. She had to squint at the words for a few seconds before they finally made sense to her:

> _ Spire CCXLI _
> 
> _ Contents: The Codex of Creation _
> 
> _ Requisition Date: VII Iulius, CCLXXIV _
> 
> _ Requisitioner: Her Lord _
> 
> _ Access: Her Lord only _
> 
> _ Release Date: Pending _

Even after Eli could decipher the words written on the page, it still took her a good few seconds after that to actually begin making sense of them. Her brows creased down as she read those same words several times over, and out of the corner of her vision she could see Maki moving in as well, also trying to get a look at the text. Eventually Eli finally lifted her eyes back up, at which point she found Hanayo looking back at her expectantly, clearly waiting for a reaction.

“What does this mean?” Eli finally asked, Hanayo pulling the book back away once both Eli and Maki had gotten a good enough look at it.

“Spire two-hundred forty-one was the building that was attacked by the demons,” Hanayo started to explain, finger pressing against the page and moving down through each line as she explained her discovery. “It took me a while to be able to find this, but this is a logbook of everything that’s been stored in any of those vaults, stretching back to the start of time. Down here it says the artifact being stored there was something called the ‘Codex of Creation.’”

“Codex of Creation…” Eli repeated under her breath, more to herself than to anyone else. “The item I saw the demons making off with did look like a book of some sort, so I suppose that makes sense.” Immediately after saying that, however, Eli was reminded of the next few lines on that page, and her brow furrowed even further as she started to think that over. “But further down it says…”

“It says that Tsubasa-sama herself was the one who requested to have the Codex stored there,” Hanayo replied. “And… And it says she was the only one with access to it as well.” Immediately, that struck Eli as strange. She wasn’t typically the sort to speak out against Tsubasa in any situation, or to question her Lord in any way, but at the moment she was more thinking out loud than anything else, and as a result some of those thoughts ended up making their way to the surface before she considered them too heavily.

“That seems odd, doesn’t it?” she asked. “When I asked Tsubasa-sama if she had any information about what had been taken she insisted that she didn’t. But if this Codex was important enough that she personally requested to have it stored there, and didn’t grant anyone but herself permission to access it…”

“W-Well, there are hundreds of vaults like this one,” Hanayo pointed. “And… She had it stored there almost a full millennia ago,” she added on, finger moving down to point out the requisition date. “It seems possible that she’s forgotten about it since then…”

“Maybe…” Eli agreed, though she really wasn’t satisfied with that answer. She finally pulled her eyes away to look over towards Maki, and then she turned around to look down into the interrogation room again, where she saw Kotori and Umi finally exiting the room, a new set of guards moving in to keep watch over their prisoner now that the interrogation itself had ended. Yet another day with no answers, and suddenly Eli had even more questions than before. Some of these were questions she wanted to take to Tsubasa directly, though it was already late in the day, and it was unlikely Tsubasa would even still be around. This might have to wait until tomorrow.

“I’d recognize that look anywhere,” another familiar voice came into the room, causing Eli to jump up a little bit when she heard it. “You seem stressed, Eli-chi.” As Eli turned away from the window once more she found the room around her was gradually starting to grow more and more crowded, Nozomi stepping in from the hallway as well. She had a playful expression on her face, though that really wasn't saying much. Nozomi always looked like she was in high spirits about one thing or another, even in the most grave of times.

“I’ve been stressed for two days now,” Eli replied, leaning back against the window as Nozomi walked further into the room. “Frankly, I don’t understand how you’re not.”

“Simple,” Nozomi replied, raising a finger to wag it at Eli scoldingly. “Stress isn’t good for you. You’ll make yourself sick.” Eli simply rolled her eyes at that, not quite having the patience to engage with Nozomi’s usual brand of nonsensical bullshit.

“What brings you up here?” she asked. “Do you have something important to share as well?”

“Actually,” Nozomi replied, “I was just looking for Maki-chan. I’ve got some important orders for you from on high.” Maki looked surprised to hear that, and even Eli seemed a bit startled as well.

“Tsubasa-sama has a job for me?” Maki asked, before Eli cut in alongside her.

“Is Tsubasa-sama still here?”

“Hm? No, I think she already left,” Nozomi replied, shaking her head and causing a disappointed expression to appear on Eli’s face. “She asked me to pass this along on my way out. So come with me, won’t you?” she then asked, looking towards Maki once more.

“Uh… R-Right,” Maki agreed, though she was still clearly a little thrown off by the situation. She nodded along, though, and walked over towards Nozomi, following her out into the hall. Maki stole one last glance back into the room on her way out, though by the time she looked back she already found that Eli and Hanayo were talking between themselves once more, looking back down at the book Hanayo had brought along. Maki watched that for a few seconds, until it got far enough away that it was hard to see, at which point she looked back in front of her once more. Nozomi was still a few paces ahead, and was walking along with purpose, back turned to Maki. Maki sped up a little bit, just enough that she could come up alongside Nozomi before speaking.

“So… What did Tsubasa-sama have to say?” she asked.

“Hm?” Nozomi replied. “About what?”

“About- About the orders!” Maki blurted out. “The ones you just told me about!”

“Oh, those?” Nozomi replied, lips curling up into a devious smile Maki had seen far too many times by now. “Those were a lie. She didn’t say anything.” Maki stopped dead in her tracks when she heard that, not quite sure whether to be confused or pissed off at Nozomi, though ultimately she landed somewhere in the middle.

“A lie? Why would you lie to me about that?” she demanded.

“Simple,” Nozomi replied, continuing down the hall even as Maki had stopped. “I needed an excuse to get you away from the others. And it worked, didn’t it?”

“That doesn’t tell me anything!” Maki felt her confusion growing even stronger now, though her frustration was certainly growing along with it. Her brow furrowed down, and her hands clenched into fists at her sides, though as Nozomi continued to walk away Maki ended up chasing after her, if only so that she could get more answers. “What do you really need me for then?” she insisted. “What’s this about?”

“Patience,” Nozomi replied, putting a finger to her lips, wry smile still lingering in her expression. “All things in due time.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Due time is about three minutes. You’ll survive.” Maki still found herself incredibly dissatisfied with that response, though she also knew Nozomi well enough to know that she wouldn’t be getting a different one no matter how hard she tried. Irritating as it might have been, following Nozomi and waiting this out really was her best option.

Maki stayed close by Nozomi’s side as they continued through the building, traveling several stories down along a staircase until they had reached what Maki recognized as a basement level. It wasn’t somewhere Maki went very often, which only made her even more curious about it as a result. She felt almost claustrophobic knowing they were below the surface, eyes shifting nervously back and forth between walls that suddenly felt much closer on either side of her. Maki stayed closer to Nozomi now, following along directly behind her until, finally, Nozomi stopped at a seemingly unassuming door. And as Nozomi opened it, Maki was entirely unprepared for what was on the other side.

“Maki-chan!”

“Maki-chaaaaaaan!” The room behind the door was small, and relatively nondescript, looking like it had probably been used for storage at one point, and had since been forgotten about. Right now, however, there was a cheap table arranged at the center of the room, with a few equally shoddy chairs assembled around it. And two of those chairs were occupied by none other than Honoka and Rin- or at least, they had been, until Honoka and Rin had both jumped up simultaneously upon seeing Maki.

“What- What is this?” Maki blurted out, freezing in the doorway as she looked towards Honoka and Rin, then back towards Nozomi.

“Come in, won’t you?” Nozomi replied.

“This… This isn’t some sort of weird prank, is it?” Maki asked.

“Not at all,” Nozomi insisted. “Now go ahead, take a seat.” Maki was still extremely skeptical, and she had half a mind to turn around and march back upstairs right then and there. Reluctantly, however, she did end up stepping further into the room, circling around the table to take a free seat. As she sat down Honoka and Rin both did the same, and Nozomi closed the door before moving to join them in the one remaining chair.

“Now,” she said, once they were all gathered around the table. “Would one of you like to tell Maki-chan why we’re all here?”

“We’re doing crime!” Honoka shouted.

“We’re doing a heist!” Rin shouted.

“A- A heist?? Crime??” Maki blurted out. “What are you talking about??”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Nozomi giggled, raising a finger to silence the other two. “But not entirely inaccurate either. I gathered everyone up here because I had a run in with some…  _ Interesting  _ visitors today.”

“Visitors?” Maki repeated. “You mean…?”

“That’s right,” Nozomi replied. “Demons.” As soon as Nozomi said that Maki was even more on edge than before, brows creasing down as she leaned in even closer over the table.

“Demons? Here?”

“Not quite here,” Nozomi said. “But close by. They ambushed me on my way in this morning. Surprisingly, however, they didn’t seem intent on hurting me. They just wanted to talk. Actually…” Nozomi said, before her expression turned surprisingly grave. “One of them was quite familiar.” At the first mention of demons Maki had been on edge, growing increasingly tense, but what Nozomi said then felt crushing. It was like a weight on her chest, causing Maki to sink back in her chair, and even though she knew precisely what Nozomi meant it still took her a few seconds just to be able to ask.

“You mean… Yoshiko-chan?” Nozomi merely nodded in silence at that, and around the table Rin and Honoka’s expressions had fallen as well. A few seconds of quiet surrounded them, before Nozomi eventually spoke up once more.

“As I mentioned, though, they didn’t come to attack me. They came to negotiate.” Once again Maki had a feeling she already knew the answer to her next question, but she asked it anyway.

“Negotiate for what?”

“For the return of our prisoner.” That was exactly what Maki had expected, but even then it still left her with more questions than answers.

“And why are you gathering the three of us down here to tell us about this?” she asked.

“Because,” Nozomi replied. “I intend to give her to them.” That part actually came as a shock to Maki. For a second she almost expected this to turn out to be another one of Nozomi’s jokes, but when Nozomi gave no indication that she was kidding, Maki was forced to take her a bit more seriously.

“Does Tsubasa-sama know about this?”

“She doesn’t,” Nozomi answered. “And I don’t plan to tell her. I highly doubt she would agree to it.”

“It’s exciting, isn’t it?” Honoka said, thumping her fists against the table. “We’re gonna be rebels!”

“You’re going to be  _ dead, _ ” Maki replied. “She’ll have your head for this.”

“No. She’ll have  _ my  _ head for this,” Nozomi replied. “I’ll need help transporting our prisoner. But Tsubasa-sama will never have to know anyone else was involved.”

“Does anyone else know?” Maki insisted.

“Nobody outside of this room,” Nozomi replied.

“Not even Eli-san?”

“Not even her.”

“Why?” That time it was Nozomi who went quiet for a moment, looking as if she was taking a second to collect her thoughts before she ended up giving an answer.

“Eli-chi is… You know,” Nozomi said, waving a hand loosely. “I love her dearly, but she can be a bit uptight. She’s very by the book, so concerned with rules and authority. I don’t think I would ever be able to get her to approve of something like this. That’s why I picked the three of you,” she added, smiling across the table at Maki. “Out of the nine of us, I figured you three would be the most willing to bend a few rules.”

“Yup yup!” Rin agreed. “Rules are made for breaking!”

“Why are you so set on doing this?” Maki insisted, ignoring Rin’s comment to keep her eyes on Nozomi across the table. “Do you really think getting the Codex back is that important?”

“The what?”

That response stunned Maki. She blinked a few times when she heard it, once more trying to tell if Nozomi was just screwing with her, before being struck by the realization that Nozomi hadn’t even been in the room for that part of the conversation. She still didn’t know about the Codex and, consequently, wasn’t aware of the strange connections between the Codex and Tsubasa that Eli had been worrying herself over. And, at that point, Maki’s confusion only grew that much more intense.

“The Codex of Creation,” Maki said. “Hanayo-chan found the old storage records and found out that was the name of the artifact the demons stole.”

“Oh, did she now?” Nozomi replied. “That’s wonderful.”

“Hang on. If you didn’t even know that much… Then why are you so willing to risk yourself for this?” Maki insisted. “What’s your motivation?” Nozomi didn’t answer right away, her eyes drifting away from Maki, looking up and off to the side instead. She was staring in the vague direction of the ceiling, although it didn’t seem as if she was actually focused on anything in particular.

“Plenty of reasons,” she eventually replied. “But primarily… Sympathy, I suppose.”

“Sympathy…” Maki repeated. “For… Yoshiko-chan?”

“For everyone,” Nozomi replied, before returning her eyes to Maki. “Can I count on your help in this?” Maki dropped her eyes down to the table after that, hands fidgeting nervously in her lap. She didn’t fully understand why she of all people had been chosen for this task, what Nozomi thought she saw in common between Maki and Rin and Honoka. Whatever it was, though, apparently Nozomi was right in sensing it. Because as much as Maki felt like this was the sort of thing she didn’t want to involve herself in, as much as she wanted to wash her hands of the whole affair and not get involved, she couldn’t drown out that little, irritating voice in the back of her mind that was saying this was somehow the right thing to do.

“Fine,” she eventually murmured. “Just don’t make me regret this.”


End file.
